The terms "touring bikes" and "touring motorcycles" as used herein are intended to refer to those motorcycles which are provided with a full, frame-mounted fairing, either as original equipment or on a retrofit basis.
The term "fairing" as used herein refers to those types of fairings which are considered in the art to be "full" fairings as opposed to those understood to be "partial" fairings.
The term "highway speed" as used herein refers to those speeds generally recognised as being from about 50 kilometers per hour up to the legal Canadian speed limit of 100 KpH. Of course, maximum highway speeds differ from country to country, but the present invention is satisfactory for use at even higher speeds.
Motorcycles have been, and are still employed extensively for providing light, economical and fast conveyance for one or two passengers at a time, for both local and long distance travel. In order to obtain the advantages of this mode of travel, however, the passengers often must sacrifice comfort, or resort to expensive, cumbersome and restrictive wet and cold weather clothing for protection, or in fact refrain from travelling altogether, especially in inclement weather such as during rain and snow storms, or for very sunny days (of growing concern is increased UV radiation from sunlight, and without a form of cover, riders can be subjected to long periods of exposure), as there is no provision made in their design for a covering assembly. This has probably been due to such factors as the size of the vehicle, and other factors such as stability, and the range of speeds at which they are often used, such as from in-city to highway speeds. With the advent of the so-called "touring bikes" long distance pleasure cruising has become more popular for both young and old, in spite of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
It would therefore be desirable to enhance the range of weather in which touring bikes and the like can be comfortably utilized, by providing a removable cover assembly.
Various removable cover assemblies are- known for vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,017 discloses one such assembly for all-terrain vehicles (ATV's). This cover assembly is limited to a front and top only and is strictly limited to use at very low speeds as no consideration of aerodynamics is required for use on ATV's. In addition, the ATV must be modified to allow the cover assembly to be attached. The cover assembly disclosed is therefore not suitable for use with highway speed motorcycles, nor could it readily be altered to be so.
Canadian Industrial Design No. 56204 discloses another type of cover assembly, which provides both top and side coverage for an ATV. As the design includes an open front, it can not practicably be adapted to highway speed motorcycles.